Shockheart Discontinued
by Deliciously-Demonic
Summary: Zeke's 14-year-old niece comes to visit him in Empire City the day of the blast. What happens when she's left all alone with only Zeke and Cole to help her? R&R, Chapter two is up!
1. Day One: The Blast

Day One: The Blast.

The young girl walked down the dirty Empire City streets, her blond hair whipping around her face. It was such a beautiful day. She had come with her parents to visit her uncle, Zeke. Her light blue eyes scanned the area in front of her. _Zeke's place can't be far from here,_ she though, recognizing Archer Square, which was two blocks away from her uncle's home. She sped up, hoping to get there before Zeke did his nightly ritual of eating pizza, drinking beer, and passing out. Suddenly, a scream rang out, followed by the frightened yells of the people around her, and the sound of…energy? She whipped around quickly, and her eyes grew as large as the moon. A giant…_thing _of energy was expanding, coming towards her quickly. Inside it, she could see the carnage of the city. Scared, she ran away from it. She knew it would catch her; it was expanding at a pace she couldn't beat. She quickly dodged into a near-by alley, squeezing her eyes tightly, her arms wrapped around herself in a vain effort to stop herself from crying out in fear…

She slowly opened her eyes, blinking the grit and dust out of them. Every inch of muscle and skin ached as she propped herself up against the brick wall. She crawled to the corner of the building, and peeked over at the city. She gasped with horror, and quickly stood, ignoring her body's intense screech of protest. Her clothes were now torn to such an extent, their prior being was unnoticeable. With obvious pain, she gritted her teeth and walked towards the one place she figured she could go; Zeke's place. When she entered the building, she slowly climbed the stairs, leaning against the wall for support. Eventually, she reached the top. She sat with a small cry, which she held back by biting her bottom lip. She looked around, and saw her uncle rising to his feet shakily.

"Uncle Zeke!" she called weakly. Zeke turned, and gasped with surprise.

"Lanie? What are you doing here?" he asked, concerned. Lanie smiled weakly.

"We came here to visit you." she said, her voice rough and cracked. Zeke looked at her nervously. He walked over, unbalanced at first, and helped her stand.

"C'mon," he said. "We've gotta go find Cole."

"So where is this Cole?" Lanie said, still hurting, but walking without her uncle's aid.

"He went to deliver a package." Zeke grunted.

"Why don't you call him?" Lanie suggested. Zeke gave her a long, hard look.

"You think our phones are going to work after…whatever that was?" Zeke asked.

"It's worth a shot." Lanie said, shrugging her shoulders, a movement that made her wince.

Zeke opened his cell, surprised when it was still working. Lanie sent him a smirk, which he ignored. He dialed a number, and put the phone to his ear. Lanie faintly heard another voice on the other end of the phone.

"C'mon. We're going to the bridge." Zeke told her, turning left. Lanie followed quickly.

When they reached the bridge, Lanie got her first glimpse of Cole. He was taller and fitter then Zeke was, and his head was shaved. Blood and grit covered him, making in hard for her to tell anything else about him. Zeke went on an encouraged him to cross the bridge. Lanie looked to the sky, which had turned ash-gray. Suddenly, a jolt of electricity sparked out, and hit Cole head on. Lanie gasped, putting her hand to her mouth to cover it, and Zeke grimaced. Cole stumbled forward, looking disoriented, and starting walking towards them. Lanie felt pity for him, but she felt it disappear quickly, and spread into pity for everyone in Empire City. She watched as lightning suddenly started to strike around Cole and the police officers that were on the other side of the bridge. Cole managed to cross the bridge. As soon as he made it, though, he slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

Have fun hating my OC whilst I make the next chapter. :P


	2. Day Fifteen: Quarantined

Day Fifteen: Quarantined

Lanie opened her eyes and blinked. The cot she now called her bed was itchy and bulky. She sat up on it, and looked around. Zeke was watching TV, and Cole was zapping dummies. Ah yes, _zapping_ dummies. The electricity that'd constantly been hitting Cole during the blast had made him…different. He could, to put it simply, control electricity. She let out a yawn, and stood up. She'd slept in her clothes, since they were the only thing she had to wear. She walked over to Zeke, careful to avoid standing in front of Cole.

"Anything good on?" she asked him.

"That one dude, The TV Jacker, is on." Zeke said. Lani looked over at the TV in interest. The TV Jacker was this man who broadcasted his opinion on the quarantine over the air. Zeke turned to Cole.

"Cole, I need you to come with me. They just dropped a shipment of food over in Archer Sqare!" he told Cole. Lanie turned her head.

"Can I go too?" Lanie asked Zeke.

"I guess so, s'long as you don't get into trouble." Zeke said,

"Are you sure we should be bringing the kid with us?" Cole asked Zeke.

"Hey!" Lanie cried, indignant.

"Hell, Cole, she won't do nothing'!" Zeke said,

"How do you know that?" Cole growled. Lani glared at him silently.

"Well…maybe you should stay here, Lani. Just in case." Zeke said. Lani glared at them both, then turned and looked at the TV. After a few moments, She heard Zeke run towards the stairs, and Cole jump off the roof.

"Show off." she muttered. Then she got an idea. She peered down the side of the building. Plenty of foot-holds. She could probably climb down. She slowly lowered herself onto a window sill, careful to grip the sides tightly. She looked around, and saw a place just within the reach of her foot. If she moved over there, she could easily climb down. She reached delicately over, gripping the bricks with such intensity, her entire hands were sweaty. She slowly reached downwards, securing her foot on the closest foot-hold. She lowered herself until she was evenly standing against the wall. She suddenly felt the concrete brick holding her up give way, and before she knew it, she was falling. Sliding past three windows and gaining speed, Lani looked down to see a place for her to grasp. She just managed to hold onto a window sill when she was three feet from the ground. She hung there for a moment, searching for Cole and Zeke. A ways to her left, she saw them round a corner. She jumped down, and began running stealthily, following them to Archer's Square.

"Wait," she heard Cole say. "This isn't the way to Archer's Square."

"Well, we've got a little detour first. Gotta pick me up a new six shooter." Zeke said.

"Oh, here we go." Cole muttered exactly what Lani was thinking as she dodged behind a fallen telephone booth.

"Nah, that was bad-ass!" Zeke said. "The second you touched it, your electricity cooks of the gun powder and the whole thing goes KA BAM!" he laughed. "The look on your face was priceless!"

"It damn near blew my hand off!" Cole protested.

"Which is why you won't be touching the new one." Zeke said. "Traded this guy one of my home-made batteries for it."

"You mean the ones that explode when you use them?"

"Hell, he didn't know that!" Zeke laughed. "C'mon, he said he'd leave it in a parking lot, a few blocks from here." Lani blinked, and they'd turned a corner. She quickly ran up to the corner, and peered over, looking for cover. She was so intent on staying hidden, she missed what Zeke said next.

She quickly crossed the street and dodged into the alley way they'd entered, carefully hiding behind a dumpster. She ignored Zeke and Cole's conversation; they were just talking about weird things. Then again, when did Zeke _not_ talk about weird things? Lani shook her head, and continued following them.

She followed them into the parking lot, which was littered with trailers, on of which she climbed on as to watch what they were doing. She heard Zeke complaining about the gun, and saw Cole raise his hands. A wave of electricity jolted out of him, strong enough to move the cars. Zeke picked up the gun, which Cole had revealed. She watched Cole drain the energy from a nearby electrical grid, and they continued to Archer's Square.

Soon, with lots of cover to hide behind and Zeke and Cole running quickly, they reached Archer's Square. When they reached there, Lani blended in with the crowd. She stared upwards, towards the statue that stood in the center of the square. The parachute had caught onto it, leaving it stuck up hundreds of feet in the air. No one could survive a fall like that…or could they. She turned around to see Cole leaping up the building. _He must be going to free it,_ she thought. He soon reached where the supplies were stuck and with a simply blast of energy, knocked them loose. Lani was pushed to the ground and people around her charged towards the food. That's when she heard gun-shots. She looked over. Men, large groups of them, dressed in red, with large and powerful guns, were coming. Reapers. They were here for the food.

Lani, scared out of her mind, ran and hid behind a large stone object. She watched Cole jumped down from the statue, causing a sort of mini-earthquake and knocking the Reapers around. He was _fighting_ them! She watched in awe as Cole beat the shit out of the Reapers. Then, she heard a gun click. Slowly, she turned around, only to see a gun pointed straight at her face. She looked up, a hooded man looming over her, ready to kill her. His finger went for the trigger, and began to squeeze it. Lani saw her life flash before her eyes. Suddenly, the Reaper was electrocuted. Lani looked around to see Cole glaring at her.

"What are _you_ doing here?" he hissed furiously.

"Uhm…" Lani stared at his furious face, and didn't know what to say.

"C'mon, Cole! It's chow time!" Zeke called, saving Lani from an awkward explanation.

Cole forced Lani to her feet and dragged her by the arm over to Zeke.

"Look who tagged along." Cole said, tossing her at Zeke. Zeke just shook his head and gave Lani a disappointed look.

"We told you to stay there." he said.

"I'm sorry, alright?" Lani snapped. "I just…wanted to come and help.

"Help?" Cole snarled. "You can _help by doing what you're told!" Lani glared at him._

"_Whatever." she said, standing up. She looked over to a women with short brown hair running towards them._

"_Hi, Trish." Zeke said._

"_I'm glad about what you did, Cole." Trish said after waving hello to Zeke and Lani. "These poor people are starving."_

"_Now, let's grab a crate or two and head back home." Zeke said, trying to break the tension. Lani looked around and saw some people pointing at the big screen on a nearby building._

"_Wait guys." she said, and pointed to the screen. The other two turned to watch. It was the TV Jacker._

"_Take a look at this, Empire City," the man's voice boomed. The screen switched from video to a photo. "The picture you're seeing was taken by a surveillance camera near Ground Zero." Lani gasped. It was a picture of Cole…holding a bomb? _

"_Someone in your family die," the TV Jacker continued. "Well now you know who to blame. If you know anything about this guy, let me know, 'cus we gotta get the word out on this terrorist. Because whoever he is, we're gonna make him PAY."_

_Lani looked over at Cole, staring at him in a way she'd never stared at him before. Why would he deliver a bomb? She heard footsteps, and turned to see Trish walk away. No emotion, no good-bye. She just walked away. She let her gaze fall to the ground. Hadn't there been enough anger and hatred spread around?_

"_We've got to get out of town." Zeke said, giving Cole and Lani a hard look. _

"_Stampton Bridge is the best way." Cole said._

"_Meet there, then?" Lani put in. The other two looked at her, surprised, as if in the momentary drama they'd forgotten her presence._

"_Yeah. Meet there then." Cole said, nodding. He then dodged out of the crowd._

_------------_

_That's the way I imagine Cole and Zeke taking care of a kid; Cole's the hard-ass, Zeke's the one who wants to let her get away with stuff, but doesn't because of Cole. xD_

_Sorry if you don't like anything about this chapter. Most things were quoted from memory._


End file.
